I have just finished removing several layers of paint from my 140’s bonnet with paintstripper. I noted the remains of a 1" wide strip of black felt between the rear brace and the skin of the bonnet, which has definitely seen better days. I have removed this, but presume it’s there to stop a rattle between the brace and the bonnet. What have folk used to replace this, and how do you suggest getting it into the gap, please?
This felt strip approx. 1inch x 3/16 inch was put into the bonnet at the point of construction as the bonnet loosens up with use they do partially fall out and with overspray etc they get messy.
All you can do is get a nice piece of suitable thickness felt and a plastic spatula and work some new stuff in.
You may find you need to thin both ends down a bit as it can be loose in middle and tight at either end.
If loose in middle you can use suitable glue slid in on plastic spatula.
Good Luck
Thanks Terry - I was thinking of trying something that wasn’t water absorbent, like an expanding foam tape, but it’s getting it in there that’s tricky. I was wondering if drilling out the pop rivets to the cross brace would help, then replacing them after the strip is in - anyone tried this?
Do you want to retain felt or foam re originality Roger? if not consider
sikaflex or similar. My vertical panel has three locating poprivets to hold it in position prior to spot welding . These spots can be drilled out of course and the panel pop riveted back in, not original
of course ! 
Hi Peter,
I might stick with the felt for originality, I think. I wouldn’t use Sikaflex or other PU sealant here as once applied you’ll never remove it, or unstick the components should you ever need to.
Now, where do I find 3/16 x 1" felt strip?
Ah - Woolies have 1/8 x 1" which, given how tight the felt on mine was, should do it.
whilst that piece is riveted as you note to the flat hinge piece I think is welded to either side of bonnet ie its not removable?
the felt woollies are now selling is not felt as you would probably know it, its more a synthetic product and does not look totally right but it will do the job.
Thinking of the 1/8 inch I quoted I might suggest you get 1/4 inch as in the middle gap is this size? old fashion felt you could strip it down in thickness the synthetic stuff maybe not ask for sample of 1/8 and 1/4
terry
As you say, it’s rivetted along its length and welded at the ends to the skin. My thinking was that removing the rivets would allow a little more ‘give’ to make space for the felt. All the way along, the brace is tight against the skin on my bonnet, no physical space for felt, so fitting will be ‘fun’. The old felt was crushed pretty much to nothing for most of its length.
Are you sure Woolies offering isn’t real felt? It’s sold as black felt strip under ‘window seals’ and certainly looks like it. Woolies usually say if they are selling a synthetic substitute.
Oops, forgot the spot welds between the pop rivets.
Careful experiment shows that a broad-tipped plastic trim tool will create a gap I should be able to get thin felt in, so I’ll give that a go.
When the hinge panel was welded in, the weld might / might not have run into the vertical panel but fairly easy to cut, drilling out the spot welds vertical to hinge panel will leave a rather untidy vertical panel however.
All welding on these bonnets other than the spot welds, is / was gass not tig it seems to me,
your opinion Terry ?
felt I would have said was made of some natural fibre horse hair etc. The “felt” woollies sold me 18 months was shiny and looked more like a synthetic material yes it will pass as felt.
Tig welding did not exist in 1955. It is almost certainly oxy-acetylene welding.
Roger do I recall that Jaguar used a outside firm to weld the front frames of a Dtype using the relatively new tig process,
Dtype in ‘54 of course, might have been late ‘53. Am I mistaken with this recollection?
I stand corrected - a quick Google reveals Tig was developed in the forties. However I will bet it was not used for aluminium welding by Jaguar on the 1955 production line when they had so many men skilled in gas welding.
You can find all sorts of metal joining methods on these cars - and they’re not consistent across all of the same model, either. Mine has a lot of brazing reinforcing other welds, all over the place - from front to back of the car. Others have the same, some very little. I spoke to one of the UK Jag specialist restorers about this, and was advised that it depended entirely on who was on the production line that day.
Wouldn’t the front frame of a D-type be steel? Obviously you can Tig weld steel, but why would they?
Well Roger as with myself, self correcting in the matter of a wrong
dia on a pipe fitting, it`s best not to be to cattegoric unless one be
absolutely sure on a matter 
As for the bonnets in question I am / was accepting they are gas welded, I posed the question for A . N. other.
Early D type front frames, well I will leave others to inform the metal
composition, but it`s not steel .
Peter, i believe you are correct in your assessment of bonnet welding. spot welding and gas welding, no arc welding or mig / tig used. these types of welding were available in late 40s but usually only used on heavier thickneses. heat leads to brittle fracture and cracking with these loosely controlled alloys. i have hear or read somewhere that it has 4-5 % titanium but i am not sure about actual metal specification?
Peter:
Not sure what the composition of the metal was, however the front sub frames on the early D-types were welded to the tub. Clearly, this presented problems for repair following accident damage so subsequent frames were bolted. “Several fairly minor bumps at Le Mans (and on the road subsequently) had shown how difficult it was to work on the 1954 D-type, because the frame and the cockpit were welded together. On all but the original six cars, therefore these two main structural items were bolted together.” (Andrew Whyte, “Jaguar D-type & XKSS” 1983 p.7)
Chris.
According to Motorsport archives - tubular aluminium, argon arc welded.
The felt’s back in now - I sprayed a little etch primer onto the skin and brace, and worked the new strip in with a thin screwdriver having opened up the gap very carefully with a wide plastic trim tool. No marking on the aluminium, and the felt’s not going anywhere.
Pretty sure it’s real felt - it shreds easily, and doesn’t feel synthetic.
I decided to fit it before paint, as the original strip was covered in top coat so was presumably fitted before paint, and fitting it after paint would probably have scratched the finish.